POACEAE. 31 



Stamens 3. Styles distinct. Grain ovoid, free, enclosed 

 in the glume and palea. 



1, P. pratense L. Culms more or less tufted, erect, leafy, 3-9 

 dm. high, simple; sheaths smooth; blades minutely scabrous; spike 

 about 6 mm. wide, 3-10 cm. long; empty glumes about 2 mm. long, 

 hyaline except the 3 scabrous nerves; flowering glume nearly 2 mm. 

 long. 



Occasional in lawns, and in mountain meadows. Cuyamaca. 



13. ALOPECURUS L. Fox-tail Grass. 



Annual or perennial grasses with erect or decumbent 

 culms, usually flat leaves and spike-like inflorescence. 

 Spikelets 1-flowered, flattened. Glumes 3; the 2 outer 

 empty, acute, sometimes short-awned, more or less united 

 below, compressed, keeled; keel ciliate or somewhat 

 winged; third glume truncate or obtuse, hyaline, acute, 

 sometimes wanting. Stamens 3. Styles distinct or 

 rarely united at the base. Stigmas elongated. 



1. A. geniculatus L. Perennial; culms decumbent and often 

 rooting from the lower nodes, 2-4 dm. high, smooth; sheaths smooth, 

 upper inflated; blades 1-3 mm. wide, the lowest often nearly equaling 

 the culm, the uppermost equaling or exceeding the spike; spike 2-4 

 cm. long, about 4 mm. wide; spikelets 2-3 mm. long; empty glumes 

 silky, obtuse; flowering glumes glabrous, their margins united to 

 near the middle; awn about 4 mm. long, slender. 



In low ground on the mesas near Inglewood, and in a similar 

 location near San Diego. The only localities known in California. 



14. SPOROBOLUS R. Br. Drop-seed Grass. 



Perennial or annual grasses with flat or convolute 

 leaves and open or contracted panicles. Spikelets usu- 

 ally small, 1-flowered, sometimes 2-3-flowered. Glumes 

 in the 1-flowered spikelets 3, membranous; the 2 outer 

 empty, the first somewhat the shorter; the third equal- 

 ing or longer than the empty ones, enclosing a perfect 

 flower and a 2-nerved palea. Stamens 2-3. Styles very 

 short, distinct. Grain free. 



1. S. airoides Torr. Perennial; culms erect, rather stout and 

 tufted, 4-9 dm. high; sheaths somewhat shorter than the inter- 

 nodes, the throat ciliate; ligule very short; leaves convolute, taper- 

 ing to a filiform apex, those of the culm 4-5, the upper filiform, 2-3 

 cm. long; panicle terminal, ovoid, often partly included at the base, 

 2-3 dm. long, its branches again branching and bearing scattered 

 spikelets above the middle; spikelets light lead-color or brown; 



